Back in the Forties, the science fiction rag Planet Comics published the ongoing feature "Life On Other Worlds." This section peppered scientific know-how amongst whatever gonzo shit the writer happened to make up. Here's a tour of our Solar System using old issues of Planet Comics. Did you know that Mars is occupied by gargantuan Romans?

Let's kick it off with Mercury. Notice how the synopsis sputters out many a fact without acknowledging the deadly toucan mutants.

I'm pretty sure the male astronaut knowingly used his female colleague as a lure. The rollicking Forties, everyone.

Finally, this description eschews facts for vague warnings about Mercury's giant caterpillars. And here I was afraid this wouldn't be educational. [Via]

I enjoy how this article on Venus begins with a fairly academic remark that the planet could support life, but then immediately transforms the damn place into Land of the Lost.

But lo! Here's an entirely different interpretation of planetary life on Venus. Do note that the Venusian men are busted as angler fish, but the women are hotter than dugongs.

According to Planet Comics, Jupiter will be rife with pygmy centaurs, giant naked dudes with ankle flagella, and hilariously quaint one-seater rocket tanks to protect astronauts from the crushing pressure. [Via]

Let's take a pit stop to Callisto. This moon is inhabited by depressing anteater people and those omnipresent space dragons. In the 1940s, cosmic dragons were an invasive species on every planet, save Earth. [Via]

Hey, Saturn is filled with robust extraterrestrial bodybuilders too! Astronomy was indescribably sexier in the 1940s.

According to Planet Comics, the Hawkmen of Saturn are a bunch of genial naturists. On my own Personal Taxonomy of Hawkmen, these guys rank above Carter Hall but below those dudes from Flash Gordon. [Via]

Planet Comics really phoned in this snapshot of Uranus (rimshot). All we can really glean is that retrofuture NASA ran out of funding for spacesuits in women's sizes.

Oh, and Uranusians are corpulent and sluggish. I'm never putting a terrarium on my head and riding my asbestos rocket to that slop heap. [Via]